WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.599 Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:20.480 ! It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah, 00:00:20.480 --> 00:00:25.679 either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all, would you pray for us 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:32.159 that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like yourself? 00:00:32.159 --> 00:00:37.359 The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian, 00:00:37.359 --> 00:00:42.159 we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the 00:00:42.159 --> 00:00:48.799 Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We will do 00:00:48.799 --> 00:00:55.120 what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're a non-Christian 00:00:55.119 --> 00:01:00.320 checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't hesitate to send us 00:01:00.320 --> 00:01:05.280 questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the types of things 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:07.759 that you're really struggling with. So God bless. 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:19.840 Let's just bow our heads in prayer. Father, we confess before you that we have a problem in that 00:01:19.840 --> 00:01:28.480 we often forget the beautiful, true, good promises you make to your people. And we often forget them 00:01:28.480 --> 00:01:34.640 and live as if you haven't made promises to us. And we ask, Father, that your Holy Spirit would 00:01:34.640 --> 00:01:41.439 continually bring us back to your Word, that we might know and hear and remember and live by these 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:48.879 very precious promises. We also know, Father, that we forget the warnings in your Word. And Father, 00:01:48.879 --> 00:01:54.719 we confess we probably forget your warnings more than we forget your promises. And so we ask, Father, 00:01:54.719 --> 00:02:01.039 that you also help us to remember your warnings and to live our lives accordingly. And we ask all 00:02:01.039 --> 00:02:06.799 these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Saviour. Amen. Please be seated. 00:02:06.799 --> 00:02:15.359 Amen. So I have to ask your indulgence as an older man. For some of you younger people will just think 00:02:15.680 --> 00:02:20.240 that's just sort of weird, George, that this has finally happened to you, or you think it's a bit 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:26.079 surprising. But I am sufficiently old. I mean, I still find it really weird. I can't say the word 00:02:26.079 --> 00:02:34.479 S-O-R-R-Y because it sounds like S-I-R-I to my watch, and my watch talks to me, which I just think is 00:02:34.479 --> 00:02:41.359 really weird every time it happens. I now even have to spell the word so I don't end up having to tell 00:02:41.359 --> 00:02:50.000 S-I-R-I to shut up. I'm not looking forward to the day when S-I-R-I learns how to spell S-I-R-I, 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:55.280 and then I don't know what I'll have to do. I'll have to make up some other word. But my wife was out 00:02:55.280 --> 00:03:05.039 for her walk, and I was making supper, and my kids set up a thing for Louise and me, 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:10.400 and it's a little screen, and it's right between where we wash dishes and where we cook, 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:16.560 and where we, you know, chop up the vegetables and stuff like that, prepare the meal. And it's a 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:21.360 little screen there, and it shows us pictures of our kids and grandkids and other things, which is 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:29.520 really precious. And it also allows me to talk to it, and I can ask Google to play songs. So that's 00:03:29.520 --> 00:03:35.280 what I like to do when I'm washing dishes or cooking. And so a couple of weeks ago, my wife was off for an 00:03:35.280 --> 00:03:42.640 exercise walk, and I'm cooking, and I kept asking Google to play a song, and it kept picking the wrong 00:03:42.640 --> 00:03:49.520 song. And not just like tiny bit wrong, like nothing in the title of the song or the artist even remotely 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:55.280 matched anything I asked. So this had happened three or four times in a row, and I got frustrated. 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:59.200 I was kneeling down trying to find something in the, you know, there's some vegetables at the bottom 00:03:59.200 --> 00:04:05.360 of the fridge, and I said out loud, Google, you're doing a terrible job. And to my surprise, 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:10.960 the algorithm answered me. That's the shocking thing for an old guy like me. All of a sudden, 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:13.360 it said to me, I'm very sorry to hear that. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:20.639 What? What would you like me to do? And I'd say, well, I'd like you to, you know, I'm sorry. He said, 00:04:20.639 --> 00:04:27.280 I'm very sorry to hear that. What am I doing wrong? But the algorithm's talking to me. So I said, well, 00:04:27.280 --> 00:04:33.439 you keep choosing the wrong songs that I asked for. And then the algorithm says to me, well, I'm sorry to 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:40.160 hear that. Do you want me to report it? So I said, yes. Now, just for the record, it didn't fix it. 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:49.120 It still kept giving me the wrong songs. At least, you know, intermittently, I'll still ask for a Phil 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:54.879 Wickham song, and it'll play, I don't know, Forrest Frank, or something like that, or something not even 00:04:54.879 --> 00:05:00.319 Phil Wickham, Forrest Frank, like that doesn't even go together. Anyway, I mention all of this because 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:07.279 I've gathered that lots of people talk to algorithms. I mean, that's what, when I look at things on YouTube 00:05:07.279 --> 00:05:13.920 or newspapers, people talk to AI, right? And it's even been implicated in the, in some suicides and 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:18.719 some other types of things, the conversations that people have with algorithms, with machines. 00:05:19.600 --> 00:05:26.959 And, and on one hand, so that's sort of like, I think not very wise. But the other thing is, 00:05:26.959 --> 00:05:32.879 of course, is that a lot of people sort of see AI as sort of like talking to God. So me talking to my 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:39.680 little tiny plastic screen, sort of right where I cut the vegetables between the stove and the dish 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:44.719 rack and the sink, is just like talking to God. And in fact, many people would say it's actually better 00:05:44.719 --> 00:05:50.959 to talk to AI than it is to talk to God, because at least AI might occasionally answer you, and there's 00:05:50.959 --> 00:05:56.560 a physical object. And then many other people would say that, you know, it's just, you know, 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:00.879 it's just like nothing, like prayer is like nothing. And maybe you might as well do AI as something else. 00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:06.879 Well, the text we're going to look at today is, on one hand, at the, at the front facing aspect of the 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:13.359 text, it has some very horrible things, which mean that we feel uncomfortable reading it. But if you press 00:06:13.359 --> 00:06:18.639 through the uncomfortable things, the shocking things, you see that amongst other things, it has very 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:25.039 profound things to say about prayer, and very profound things to say about belonging. 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:30.719 And, and, and with belonging, of course, things like identity. So it would be a great help for me 00:06:30.719 --> 00:06:35.839 if you would turn in your Bibles to Joshua chapter eight, which is the text we're looking at. We're 00:06:35.839 --> 00:06:42.240 preaching through the book of Joshua. But it's a big book, we're not going to cover everything, 00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:46.959 and this story has 35 verses, I'm not going to read all of them. But it's good to have your Bibles in 00:06:46.959 --> 00:06:52.000 front of you, because I don't want to avoid difficult things. But I'll, I'll read parts, 00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:58.879 tell parts, and then read part. And, and here's, here's what it says. And the context is, Joshua is 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:04.799 the sixth book written in the Bible, and it's talking about events set in the, around the year 1400. 00:07:05.359 --> 00:07:12.079 And it's describing how the people of Israel entered into the promised land, and took the promised land 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:18.319 as their own. And I know this, I haven't said anything about this in a while. But it's really 00:07:18.319 --> 00:07:23.680 quite remarkable that there has been an enduring presence of the Jewish people in that piece of 00:07:23.680 --> 00:07:30.799 land ever since 1400 BC. I should have said 1400 BC, that there's been enduring presence of the Jewish 00:07:30.799 --> 00:07:36.879 people, even if they haven't had their own state in the land. And it describes the story of how they get 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:43.600 into the land, the conquest, and the judgment on the Canaanites. And what's just happened the week 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:51.680 before, is like several weeks before, there's been the Jericho, the Jordan River has been stopped by 00:07:51.680 --> 00:07:58.319 God's command. It's a mighty miracle. The ground has been dried. Joshua leads the people of Israel, 00:07:58.319 --> 00:08:03.040 or the ark actually leads the people of Israel. God leads the people of Israel into the promised land. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:08.720 And then a couple of weeks later, there's the Battle of Jericho, and the walls come tumbling down a 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:16.640 second very gobsmacking, what the heck, whoa miracle that happens in a short period of time that 00:08:16.640 --> 00:08:22.320 everybody knows about, because they're public miracles, not private, not alleged miracles or visions, 00:08:22.320 --> 00:08:28.080 but public ones, which causes a massive reaction throughout the entire region of the Canaanite people. 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:35.519 And then they go to attack a smaller city called AI. And I didn't, it actually, that's how you're 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:39.519 supposed to pronounce it, AI, believe it or not. So this is all about the defeat of AI. 00:08:40.480 --> 00:08:45.759 You charismatic types can take it as a prophecy that the Jewish people are going to defeat AI 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:51.600 sometime. I don't know. That's up to you. I'm making no comments about it. But they go to defeat, 00:08:51.600 --> 00:08:58.399 to fight AI, and they get defeated by AI. And it turns out that there was a rebellion against 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:03.920 Israel about it. And that's what we looked at last week. And now the rebellion has been dealt with. 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:10.159 People have recommitted themselves to the Lord. And now the story continues. What's going to happen now? 00:09:10.159 --> 00:09:15.920 Has there been a change of heart in AI? Have people come to join AI? What's going on? And here's how 00:09:15.919 --> 00:09:22.319 the story continues. And the first two verses, in some ways, describes, if you're doing this as a 00:09:22.319 --> 00:09:27.199 Netflix thing or an Amazon Prime thing or one of the Paramount or Apple, or I don't want to, 00:09:27.199 --> 00:09:33.199 I'm not giving any preferential treatment, but it might be that this part begins with an elderly 00:09:33.199 --> 00:09:39.439 Joshua at the end of his life with a gravelly, deep voice, recounting the things that happened 00:09:39.439 --> 00:09:43.599 around this time when we were all young or something like that. It gives us sort of the summary of the 00:09:43.600 --> 00:09:51.600 whole story, the key bits of the story. And here's what it says. And the Lord said to Joshua, 00:09:52.480 --> 00:09:59.920 do not fear and do not be dismayed. I'm just going to pause here for a second. It's really 00:09:59.920 --> 00:10:04.379 interesting. If you ever want to do an interesting study with a concordance, that's where you can look 00:10:04.379 --> 00:10:09.519 up words in the Bible. And if you look up the word fear, it's very interesting. A lot of them will 00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:14.079 deal with the fear of the Lord, which is a whole other topic. But a lot of the times, especially in 00:10:14.079 --> 00:10:19.759 the Gospels, maybe just look the word fear up in the New Testament. It's amazing how often Jesus and 00:10:19.759 --> 00:10:26.399 other people in the Bible come to people and say, don't be afraid. Like it's a very, very common thing 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:32.079 for Jesus to say, don't be afraid. And this is a really important and precious thing for you and I to 00:10:32.079 --> 00:10:37.840 know, is that the Lord knows that we often have lots of fears. And he doesn't say, smarten up, 00:10:37.840 --> 00:10:43.139 you know, come on, whack us in the side of the head, kick us in the butt, you know, tell us to grow up, 00:10:43.240 --> 00:10:47.139 you know, all that other type of stuff that we might type of do. It doesn't say, you know, 00:10:47.160 --> 00:10:51.580 you're a terrible Christian because you're afraid, you should be ashamed of yourself. Nothing like that 00:10:51.580 --> 00:10:58.720 happens. He knows our condition. He knows my weakness. He knows your weakness. And he doesn't 00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:06.280 respond to it by shaming us. Or, yeah, he doesn't respond by shaming us or telling us off. He says, 00:11:06.279 --> 00:11:11.519 don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. And in the context here, why should they not be afraid? 00:11:11.579 --> 00:11:16.500 Because the Lord is with them. I'm with you. That really hard thing that you have to deal with, 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:22.019 that, you know, the credit counselor you need to see tomorrow or the person who has the loan or 00:11:22.019 --> 00:11:27.939 whatever it is, I'm going to be there with you when you do that. Don't be afraid. Don't be afraid. 00:11:28.939 --> 00:11:33.919 Go back and read verse 1 again. And the Lord said to Joshua, do not fear and do not be dismayed. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:40.899 Take all the fighting men with you and arise. Go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand 00:11:40.899 --> 00:11:47.559 the king of Ai and his people and his city and his land. And some of you might go, oh my, 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:56.159 I have given into your hand the king of Ai and his people and his city and his land. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:12:05.579 I'll talk about this in a moment. And you shall do to Ai and its king as he did to Jericho and its king, 00:12:05.719 --> 00:12:12.600 which was he died. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. 00:12:13.360 --> 00:12:19.819 And then he tells them how to fight the battle. Lay an ambush against the city behind it. 00:12:19.820 --> 00:12:26.920 Now, there's lots of woes going on. Whoa, like what's going on here? And one of the woes I talked 00:12:26.920 --> 00:12:30.840 about a couple of weeks ago, but I think it's appropriate to come back to it again. Like, 00:12:32.040 --> 00:12:38.500 you might very well say, okay, George, like, whoa, the Lord says to the Israelite people, 00:12:38.500 --> 00:12:48.500 the Jewish people, I have given the king to you. I have given you the people. I have given you the city. 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:55.240 I have given you the land. Like, George, that's just so wrong on so many levels. I don't even know 00:12:55.240 --> 00:13:00.860 where to begin. Now, here's one of these things where the thing, this is one of the reasons I'm 00:13:00.860 --> 00:13:05.700 doing the book of Joshua, because it's at the front line of people making complaints about the Christian 00:13:05.700 --> 00:13:11.460 faith. And so we get nervous about reading it, or we skip over it quickly. But it's when we press 00:13:11.460 --> 00:13:18.179 into those complaints that we see the precious truths and why we need them, ironically. And 00:13:18.179 --> 00:13:23.539 so there's a real couple of very precious truths in this type of very obvious woe. 00:13:24.719 --> 00:13:30.120 So the first thing is, of course, that the Bible is far more realistic than we are, and that we are 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:42.339 fundamentally confused. Well, why is that? Well, first of all, this sentence implies that the king of AI 00:13:42.340 --> 00:13:49.420 belongs to the Lord, the people belong to the Lord, the city belongs to the Lord, and the land belongs to the 00:13:49.420 --> 00:13:56.160 Lord. And this, of course, is something highly contentious, and most people would find threatening, and most people 00:13:56.160 --> 00:14:03.800 would reject, and don't like. Well, but let's, let's just pause for a second. On one hand, we can understand that. 00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:15.620 We long for a good belonging. Human beings want to belong in a good way, to good things. And human beings 00:14:15.620 --> 00:14:21.679 fear being left out. One of the great faux pas that we can sometimes do socially is we maybe come up at 00:14:21.679 --> 00:14:27.199 coffee hour, and, you know, two women are talking, and we come up to one of the women or one of the men 00:14:27.199 --> 00:14:31.039 and say, by the way, do you like to go out for coffee with me afterwards? And we ignore the other person. 00:14:31.039 --> 00:14:36.519 Don't realize that's, like, a terrible thing to do. Like, either wait till they're separate, or 00:14:36.519 --> 00:14:41.419 invite both. But to invite one and not the other, and you go, like, what? They don't like me? Like, 00:14:41.459 --> 00:14:47.079 I didn't shower this morning? Like, like, what's going on? Like, why, why can't I be included? 00:14:47.659 --> 00:14:55.199 We fear being left out. And at the same time, we worry about the claims that the state makes on us. The 00:14:55.200 --> 00:15:04.540 state increasingly acts as if we somehow, human beings, belong to the state. And on other hands, 00:15:04.620 --> 00:15:09.340 we sort of like that because sometimes we worry that our people are, you know, we can have parents 00:15:09.340 --> 00:15:14.640 who act as if we still belong to our parents, or brothers and sisters act as if we still belong to 00:15:14.640 --> 00:15:19.879 the family or to the tribe. And then, of course, we worry about the demands of corporations and now AI 00:15:19.879 --> 00:15:26.960 and talking algorithms that they might think that somehow or another we belong to them. And on one 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:33.720 level, we sort of think and hope and long that we belong to ourselves. And that is only, at best, 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:39.259 a quarter truth that we belong to ourselves. And you might say, George, belonging to yourself is the 00:15:39.259 --> 00:15:44.700 only solution to these things. And enshrining them in laws is the only solution. And teaching kids to 00:15:44.700 --> 00:15:50.420 understand that they belong to themselves is the only solution. But it is, at best, a quarter of 00:15:50.420 --> 00:15:56.700 the solution. Why? Well, think about it for a second. This is where the Bible is far more realistic than 00:15:56.700 --> 00:16:04.540 we are. How many of us caused ourselves to be born? You put your hands up, it's a sign of mental illness, 00:16:04.740 --> 00:16:10.960 just for the record. None of you caused yourself to be born. How many, after you caused yourself to be 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:17.379 born, cared for yourselves until you were 21? And able to maybe get out and start doing things in the world? 00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:22.840 Once again, if you put your own hand up, none of you changed your own diapers. Me too, by the way. None of us 00:16:22.840 --> 00:16:28.160 did that. Like, none of us did that. And then the other thing is, how many of us here will not die? If you put 00:16:28.160 --> 00:16:34.800 your hand up, once again, that's not a good sign, mentally, for you. Every one of us will die. And when we die, we lose 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:42.599 everything, right? Flannery O'Connor has a brilliant title of a very weird book, but worth the effort to 00:16:42.599 --> 00:16:50.819 read, is that you can't be poorer than dead. You can't be poorer than dead. Second after Bill Gates 00:16:50.819 --> 00:16:58.079 dies, him and the poorest fentanyl addict on our streets have the exact same amount of money when 00:16:58.079 --> 00:17:02.839 they both die. So really, if you think about it for a second, like, one moment, you didn't, you didn't, 00:17:02.840 --> 00:17:08.340 and you didn't create the world, and you don't care for yourself. So it's very hard, if those things 00:17:08.340 --> 00:17:13.200 are in fact the case, to actually think that you belong to yourself. Like, how do you belong to 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:17.700 yourself if you didn't cause yourself to be born, didn't care for yourself, didn't invent the world 00:17:17.700 --> 00:17:25.579 that sustains you, and that you will die? So what's, what's going on here? You see, the Bible is going to 00:17:25.579 --> 00:17:32.799 teach us this very profound truth, that ultimately, every single thing that exists belongs to 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:41.619 the Lord. And it belongs to the Lord. I belong to the Lord by virtue that on one hand, he is my creator, 00:17:42.399 --> 00:17:51.619 and secondly, that he sustains me. Existence does not exist in and of itself. It exists because the Lord 00:17:51.619 --> 00:18:01.019 wills existence into existence every moment, every single moment. He maintains my existence and 00:18:01.019 --> 00:18:09.700 everything that's required for my existence, so that properly speaking, he truly belongs. He, I truly 00:18:09.700 --> 00:18:16.299 belong to him. And this is one of the reasons why Augustine very famously said, our hearts are restless 00:18:16.299 --> 00:18:24.240 until they rest in him. He made us for himself, and our hearts are restless till we rest in him. 00:18:24.240 --> 00:18:32.120 And this then brings up a whole lot of other types of things about what's going on in this particular story. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:38.740 That if, in fact, the Lord created everything and sustains everything, and everything belongs to him, 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:43.799 then this means that the Canaanites don't actually own themselves, they don't own the land. 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:49.620 And it also means that even to do the modern Canadian thing to say, well, you know, for those of us, 00:18:49.619 --> 00:18:56.079 and by the way, you know, that we live on Turtle Island, and this is stuff that doesn't belong to us, 00:18:56.219 --> 00:19:01.479 and, well, I mean, does it belong to the people who are here before us, or the people before those people, 00:19:01.559 --> 00:19:06.519 or the people before those people who are before those people? Like, where does it end? Like, it doesn't 00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:11.639 really, you know, like, the Bible goes in a completely different direction in all of this, 00:19:11.719 --> 00:19:17.739 is that everything ultimately belongs to him, and because it belongs to him, he has rights over it, 00:19:17.740 --> 00:19:23.920 and can do, in a sense, as he wants with it. Give you a bit of a weird example. Let's say one of you 00:19:23.920 --> 00:19:29.920 heard this sermon this week, and three weeks from now, you happen to be doing a little bit of 00:19:29.920 --> 00:19:34.700 Googling, and you say, oh, look, there's this mega church pastor in the States with, like, 50,000 people 00:19:34.700 --> 00:19:40.279 a Sunday, and he's preaching a sermon on Joshua 8. I wonder how George compares to him. And you listen 00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:46.940 to the sermon, and five minutes in, you go, he just gave an example about AI talking to him, and what? 00:19:46.940 --> 00:19:53.320 And then you go through it, and you realize, he's taken my sermon word for word, and copied it for 00:19:53.320 --> 00:19:59.380 himself. Now, I could sue him, right? I mean, I wouldn't, but, like, you'd be mad, and because it's, 00:19:59.539 --> 00:20:05.200 why, I mean, ultimately, I would say that the sermon comes from God, but you could say that the sermon 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:12.140 ultimately is my sermon, and if he was to steal it, that's what he's doing. If he gives it as if he's 00:20:12.140 --> 00:20:18.440 done it when he's not done it, and he's stealing it for himself, that's theft, and it's completely and 00:20:18.440 --> 00:20:22.680 utterly wrong, and we would be upset. I mean, on the other hand, if he began the sermon by saying, 00:20:22.740 --> 00:20:27.820 by the way, friends, we had to preach on Joshua 8, I was completely flummoxed by it, and the Lord said, 00:20:27.900 --> 00:20:32.880 why don't you Google some other sermons? And I came across this obscure, tiny, teeny, weenie church in 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:38.160 this weird city called Ottawa, in another Canada, up to the north of us, and this sermon was so good, 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:41.860 I'm giving you George's sermon, and then you'd all think that's sort of cool. I'd think that was sort 00:20:41.860 --> 00:20:47.800 of cool. He at least credited it, but here's the thing. See, what the Bible teaches is something far 00:20:47.800 --> 00:20:55.259 better than us belonging to ourselves. It's a far better thing to understand that you belong to the 00:20:55.259 --> 00:21:02.120 Lord, a far, far better thing to understand that you belong to the Lord, and he has made you his steward 00:21:02.119 --> 00:21:10.219 over yourself. And that twist is why the earlier idea, the longing, the sense that we should belong 00:21:10.219 --> 00:21:17.000 to ourselves, that's at best a quarter truth. We do need sometimes protection from families, and tribes, 00:21:17.159 --> 00:21:24.059 and clans, and corporations, and states, and teachers, and pastors, and churches that can become, 00:21:24.479 --> 00:21:30.039 I mean, there's this whole movement in certain Protestant circles, I think it's called the New 00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:35.960 Apostolic Reformation of just mere human beings thinking that they get direct words from God, and 00:21:35.960 --> 00:21:42.299 can tell people who to marry, and who to, that's abhorrent, completely abhorrent to the Bible, completely 00:21:42.299 --> 00:21:49.879 abhorrent to the Bible. And it's just pride and narcissism with the odd proof text, and should be 00:21:49.879 --> 00:21:57.899 completely rejected. Ask me what I really think about it, like I just, in case you're wondering. But we do 00:21:57.900 --> 00:22:03.900 understand that our secular desire to have some type of sense of self-ownership is a quarter truth. The full truth 00:22:03.900 --> 00:22:10.980 is that you ultimately belong to the Lord, but he has made you steward over yourself to account for how you act. 00:22:12.240 --> 00:22:19.340 And, you know, that's, there's a crushing burden if you belong to yourself. I mean, one of the things that the 00:22:19.339 --> 00:22:24.539 gospel says is, you know, Matthew 11, Matthew chapter 11, 28 to 30, Jesus says, 00:22:25.099 --> 00:22:31.699 come to me all who are weary and heavy, heavy laden, I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn 00:22:31.699 --> 00:22:37.500 from me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. I've mixed up the 00:22:37.500 --> 00:22:43.639 translate, the memory verse a little bit, but it's a, it is a burden to believe that you belong to yourself. 00:22:43.740 --> 00:22:47.359 It's something that crushes you. It might free you for a moment, but it crushes you. 00:22:47.359 --> 00:22:51.919 And it's, in fact, freedom to know Jesus as Savior and Lord, to be reconnected 00:22:51.919 --> 00:22:58.159 to your creator and your sustainer, and to know that his yoke will, in fact, as his yoke, his presence, 00:22:58.279 --> 00:23:04.579 his word comes upon you, that he will bring you into more and more inner freedom, so that you can 00:23:04.579 --> 00:23:10.500 steward yourself wisely and well, for not only your good, but for the good of the city, the good of your 00:23:10.500 --> 00:23:15.799 family, the good of your company, the good of your state, and the glory of God, in a way which is good and 00:23:15.799 --> 00:23:22.079 beautiful. So, at the heart of this story, then, is something which, once again, at first we go, 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:29.139 whoa, it smacks at us, but if we press into it, we realize that, in fact, it sounds plausible 00:23:29.139 --> 00:23:35.500 because it's repeated endlessly, but if you look into it, the nature of our birth and our existence 00:23:35.500 --> 00:23:40.639 and our death means that we don't really belong to ourselves, but there's a nugget there that, 00:23:40.640 --> 00:23:46.380 on one hand, the Bible, by bringing these shocking truths to us, it does something, there's this very 00:23:46.380 --> 00:23:52.060 wise British guy called Daniel Strange, who talks about how the Bible is subversive and fulfilling. 00:23:52.840 --> 00:23:58.880 It subverts and fulfills at the same time. It subverts these things that we think, but it fulfills 00:23:58.880 --> 00:24:05.759 the deeper longing and desire that we have, and if you haven't read anything by Daniel Strange, I think I've 00:24:05.759 --> 00:24:10.859 read all of his books, and you'll notice, after you've read them, how he's had an influence on how I speak 00:24:10.859 --> 00:24:17.960 and how I think, but there's another woe in all of that, and the woe comes at the end of verse two. By the 00:24:17.960 --> 00:24:23.579 way, just so you know, there's 35 verses. I'm spending an equal amount of time on each verse, so this is going 00:24:23.579 --> 00:24:30.420 to be a six-hour-long sermon. Most of the sermon comes in the first two verses because it basically 00:24:30.420 --> 00:24:39.180 gives the theme of what goes on in the text. It describes from 2,000 feet in the air, it describes 00:24:39.180 --> 00:24:44.440 what goes on in the rest of the story, but notice that next thing. Read verse two again, 00:24:44.620 --> 00:24:51.660 and you shall do to Ai and its king, as you did to Jericho and its king, only its spoil and its livestock 00:24:51.660 --> 00:24:56.900 you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city behind it. 00:24:56.900 --> 00:25:02.920 Now, this is one of the things which is very unique about this story. I think it's, I don't 00:25:02.920 --> 00:25:07.440 know if it happens again. It doesn't happen again to this detail. It happens occasionally in other 00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:12.780 stories in what our Jewish friends called the Tanakh, and Christians called the Old Testament, 00:25:12.980 --> 00:25:16.700 but what we actually see in the rest of the story is the Lord is the general of the story. 00:25:17.820 --> 00:25:21.340 The Lord says to Joshua, this is how you're going to win the battle. I've given it to you, 00:25:21.480 --> 00:25:24.420 but you're still going to have to fight, and this is what you do. You do an ambush, 00:25:24.420 --> 00:25:29.420 you do the ambush this way, you wait until this moment, and then when you do wait until this 00:25:29.420 --> 00:25:33.840 moment, then you do this particular sign, and people see the sign, and then there's a turning 00:25:33.840 --> 00:25:42.240 around, and he is the one who is the general for the entire story, and this causes a lot of problems. 00:25:42.620 --> 00:25:48.480 Like, okay, once again, George, you're saying that in this particular case, and George, you really 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:52.019 think this actually happened? And I'd say, yes, I think it actually happened. I think it's a 00:25:52.019 --> 00:25:57.859 true summary of what actually happened. You know, in 35 verses, it's true. And so, George, 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:05.779 you think that the Lord actually gives directions for a war that's going to kill all the residents? 00:26:07.519 --> 00:26:11.639 Are you saying that you believe in holy war? Well, 00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:20.940 no. This story is sort of a semi-holy war, but it's not a holy war in the way it's been understood by 00:26:20.940 --> 00:26:28.780 other religions and sometimes by Christians. This whole thing about the taking of the promised land 00:26:28.780 --> 00:26:34.420 is, in a sense, a bit of a holy war. It's first and foremost a judgment upon the Canaanite people, 00:26:34.960 --> 00:26:39.259 and in a couple of weeks, I'm going to finally give a bit of a longer description about what the 00:26:39.259 --> 00:26:44.799 Canaanite people were like. Just always remember when you're reading the story, these aren't a group 00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:55.960 of secular Amish, peace-loving, forgiving people. Think child sacrifice, incest, sex trafficking 00:26:55.960 --> 00:27:04.200 as holy endeavors. Like, just always think that to realize what's going on. But what it is, is that 00:27:04.200 --> 00:27:11.860 there's this one time in one place, very specific, where the Lord actually wants the people of Israel 00:27:11.860 --> 00:27:18.500 to come in to judge the people and for them to take the land. And it's all part of a big theme 00:27:18.500 --> 00:27:25.500 in the entire Bible, right from the Garden of Eden until the Book of Revelation. One of the big themes 00:27:25.500 --> 00:27:34.599 is that the Lord wants his people to be in his place, in his presence, under his redeeming rule. 00:27:35.440 --> 00:27:42.319 He wants Adam and Eve to be in the garden with his presence, in his presence. He wants them to be 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:48.180 his. He wants them to be in that place, and he wants them to be in his presence, and he wants them to be 00:27:48.180 --> 00:27:53.960 under his rule. I've added the word redeeming because the problem is that Adam and Eve 00:27:53.960 --> 00:27:59.720 rebelled against God. And so even the whole issue of belonging, part of the reason we're terrified 00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:04.700 of belonging to the Lord is part of our rebellion against the Lord. For many people, when I say 00:28:04.700 --> 00:28:08.940 ultimately you belong to the Lord, that's like the most terrifying thing you could possibly say to 00:28:08.940 --> 00:28:13.559 them, that you belong to God and not to yourself. And that all goes right back to the Garden of Eden. 00:28:13.559 --> 00:28:19.600 It helps to show how Genesis 3 is completely and utterly true, psychologically more true than any other 00:28:19.599 --> 00:28:25.899 holy book that's been written, because other holy books deny this idea of a cosmic but intimate, 00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:31.639 a transcendent but intimate rebellion against the true God. 00:28:33.339 --> 00:28:38.299 But there's this story of the Lord's people in the Lord's place, in the Lord's presence, 00:28:38.419 --> 00:28:45.299 under the Lord's redeeming rule. This is going to change with the New Testament. If you read the book 00:28:45.299 --> 00:28:50.559 of Romans, and if you read the New Testament, it's very obvious that the Lord is not finished with the 00:28:50.559 --> 00:28:56.299 Jewish people. And it in fact has been a miracle that the people of Israel who enter the promised 00:28:56.299 --> 00:29:04.619 land around the year 1400 BC in 1948 became a nation. And that's been puzzling Christians about how to think 00:29:04.619 --> 00:29:09.500 it through ever since. For Jewish people, of course, it's been a thing of rejoicing. For others, 00:29:09.500 --> 00:29:17.339 it's been a source of great conflict and shame. But it is very clear that the New Testament says that 00:29:17.339 --> 00:29:23.019 the Lord is not finished with the Jewish people. But the same principle of the Lord's people and the 00:29:23.019 --> 00:29:28.579 Lord's place in the Lord's presence under the Lord's redeeming rule is seen in the New Testament. 00:29:29.259 --> 00:29:34.440 Everything changes with Jesus. In Matthew chapter 28, God, the Lord, after his resurrection, 00:29:34.440 --> 00:29:41.259 says to the disciples, go into all the world, every single people group that there is, go to every 00:29:41.259 --> 00:29:46.740 single people group and tell them about me and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the 00:29:46.740 --> 00:29:51.600 Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all that I have commanded them. 00:29:51.940 --> 00:29:57.299 And that is now the Christian understanding of what is to be. And so we are to understand some of us are 00:29:57.299 --> 00:30:03.720 from Rwanda. Some of us are from China. Some of us are from Uganda. I'm going to keep, I'm going to 00:30:03.720 --> 00:30:10.519 stop going right there. But lots and lots of places, Indonesia, Ecuador, all over the world. But we are 00:30:10.519 --> 00:30:16.399 here in this season, in this place. And we believe that we are here to be here for this season. Maybe 00:30:16.399 --> 00:30:21.819 the Lord's going to call you to another place in a month or take five years or 10 years. But for this 00:30:21.819 --> 00:30:28.919 season, you are here. You are to be part of his people in this place, in his presence, under his 00:30:28.919 --> 00:30:34.139 redeeming rule. And in this place, we share the gospel, seek the good of the city and the good of 00:30:34.139 --> 00:30:41.019 our nation, and share the gospel so that more and more people will be under his saving rule, in his 00:30:41.019 --> 00:30:48.379 presence with great joy and full of happiness and blessing. And we are to pray for that day that any 00:30:48.380 --> 00:30:52.760 people group that does not yet have people, that they will come, there will be a people group where 00:30:52.760 --> 00:30:58.440 there are the Lord's people from that people group. That is the great message of the Bible. It's still 00:30:58.440 --> 00:31:07.200 there. And it begins to be brought clarity from what happened after the disaster of the rebellion against 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:13.680 Adam and Eve into this. The other thing about this, this whole thing about lay an ambush against the 00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:19.799 city behind it. This, what you need to remember always when you're reading the Bible, is that the 00:31:19.799 --> 00:31:27.500 Bible teaches principles or tasks or abstract truths, like maybe that you should pray about everything. 00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:32.600 But on the other hand, if you just have those abstract truths, it's hard for it to really take 00:31:32.600 --> 00:31:40.660 on flesh in us. We need stories. We need stories and poems and proverbs, but we desperately need stories. 00:31:40.660 --> 00:31:47.779 We live by stories. And in fact, one of the things about discipleship is the Lord wants to change that 00:31:47.779 --> 00:31:53.540 little evil bird on your shoulder that says, you're no good. You'll never be good. You're terrible. You're 00:31:53.540 --> 00:31:58.860 garbage. You're going to fail. You're a loser. Like that type of story in short form. And the Lord wants 00:31:58.860 --> 00:32:06.720 to change that so that you hear, do not be afraid. You belong to me. I will never leave you or forsake you. 00:32:06.720 --> 00:32:14.819 I love you. I want to make you loved and lovely. That's part of discipleship is learning to hear the 00:32:14.819 --> 00:32:20.819 different story. And so what we see in this story is when it says to pray for everything, this actually 00:32:20.819 --> 00:32:30.100 brings it all together. You see, the fact of the matter is, is that God directly interrupts and deals 00:32:30.100 --> 00:32:34.740 with nations and corporations and battles. It's one of the things, if you read the Old Testament, 00:32:34.740 --> 00:32:40.000 it's very, very clear. It's what you see in the book of Revelation. That just because a whole pile 00:32:40.000 --> 00:32:44.180 of human beings unite themselves under a king doesn't mean that somehow or another the Lord is 00:32:44.180 --> 00:32:50.440 not still sovereign and Lord over them. And it wouldn't be, is it just because Elon Musk can make 00:32:50.440 --> 00:32:56.220 a spectacular company or Carney can make particular types of things or Trump can make certain types of 00:32:56.220 --> 00:33:02.779 claims or Putin or, I can't remember, the head of China, that they could, no, no, nothing, 00:33:02.779 --> 00:33:09.819 you can all do that if you want. But the Lord is still sovereign and he at times interferes and 00:33:09.819 --> 00:33:18.500 interrupts the affairs of nations according to his purpose. And so we have this wonderful thing that 00:33:18.500 --> 00:33:26.879 when we see that the Lord can interfere in how a battle works out, there is a profound encouragement 00:33:26.880 --> 00:33:33.060 for you and me to pray. Pray big and pray small. 00:33:36.560 --> 00:33:40.720 I don't talk about this very often, but I'm going to mention it right now. And if, by the way, 00:33:40.980 --> 00:33:45.680 I'm, there's, this congregation, there will be people in this congregation who've had abortions 00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:52.740 or supported abortions. And, um, and I'm not doing a guilt trip on you right now. Um, not, 00:33:52.740 --> 00:33:57.720 it shouldn't be a surprise to you that Christians who believe the Bible aren't in favor of that. 00:33:57.920 --> 00:34:05.299 And if you are one who's had an abortion, there is no better place to process that and to be healed 00:34:05.299 --> 00:34:09.679 than in part of a Christian community and to know how much Jesus loves you and he died for you. 00:34:10.500 --> 00:34:15.159 But I want to say this, pray big prayers, pray for the end of abortion. 00:34:15.159 --> 00:34:21.719 If you're like me, it's Lord, I believe, help my unbelief. I don't believe he can stop it, 00:34:22.379 --> 00:34:28.699 but he can. Pray for the end of abortion and pray for a parking spot on Sunday morning 00:34:28.699 --> 00:34:33.159 and pray for everything in between. 00:34:35.139 --> 00:34:39.699 Because the Lord can change the direction of nations and the directions of battles. 00:34:40.279 --> 00:34:44.799 Some of you who know history, there are many Christians in the time that thought that the reason 00:34:44.800 --> 00:34:52.320 the British armed forces did not get obliterated by Hitler at Dunkirk was because God heard the prayer 00:34:52.320 --> 00:35:00.800 of the British nation and Hitler inexplicably stopped and the soldiers were rescued. There are many who know 00:35:00.800 --> 00:35:05.860 history who say that it's because of prayer that the U.S. won the Battle of the Midway. 00:35:05.860 --> 00:35:14.960 And so the terrors of what the Japanese had done at that particular time were turned around and defeated. 00:35:15.220 --> 00:35:20.000 I'm not saying that's true or not, but I'm saying you pray for big things and you pray for small things. 00:35:20.420 --> 00:35:23.820 This puts meat on the bones of those types of things. 00:35:24.740 --> 00:35:32.099 He might say yes, he might say no, he might say later, but he hears your prayers. 00:35:32.099 --> 00:35:40.759 Now, I have to tie up the whole belonging thing and there's other things we need to do in the story. 00:35:41.319 --> 00:35:46.639 So if you just jump with me, what happens in the rest of the story is, you know, the Lord says do this 00:35:46.639 --> 00:35:52.679 and do that and there's an ambush and one of the things you discover in the story is that AI is a small city, 00:35:52.880 --> 00:35:57.440 but Bethel, which is a very, very large city, not that far away, 00:35:57.440 --> 00:36:01.260 they actually decide to join forces with AI. 00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:08.079 And so when AI is defeated, not only is AI defeated, but Bethel is defeated as well, a far larger city. 00:36:08.579 --> 00:36:12.960 In other words, the response of AI to their partial victory was to do more fighting 00:36:12.960 --> 00:36:18.200 and the response of other people who knew all about the miracles was to join in and join in the fighting 00:36:18.200 --> 00:36:19.559 because they think they're going to win. 00:36:19.559 --> 00:36:23.059 And that basically goes back and forth. 00:36:23.159 --> 00:36:24.619 You can read all about the battle if you want. 00:36:26.059 --> 00:36:30.500 And then actually we'll start reading it at verse 22. 00:36:31.759 --> 00:36:36.039 And the others came out from the city against them and so they were in the midst of Israel 00:36:36.039 --> 00:36:40.000 and some on this side and some on that side and Israel struck them down 00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:43.500 until there was none left, left none that survived or escaped. 00:36:44.199 --> 00:36:46.340 And I'm not avoiding talking about this. 00:36:46.599 --> 00:36:47.779 I'm going to talk about this. 00:36:47.780 --> 00:36:50.200 This has been an issue on several of the stories. 00:36:50.900 --> 00:36:52.880 And I'm going to wait for a couple of weeks. 00:36:52.980 --> 00:36:57.900 I'm going to address this issue of total, apparent, a total annihilation of people. 00:36:58.420 --> 00:37:01.360 So you just park it because I am going to deal with it. 00:37:01.720 --> 00:37:04.500 But I'm not going to deal with it today because there's lots to deal with. 00:37:05.300 --> 00:37:05.960 Verse 23. 00:37:06.060 --> 00:37:09.300 But the king of AI they took alive and brought him near to Joshua. 00:37:10.300 --> 00:37:14.660 When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of AI in the open wilderness 00:37:14.659 --> 00:37:19.259 where they pursued them and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, 00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:24.119 all Israel returned to AI and struck it down with the edge of the sword. 00:37:24.699 --> 00:37:29.819 And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of AI. 00:37:29.820 --> 00:37:39.320 But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he stretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of AI to destruction. 00:37:39.940 --> 00:37:41.780 I will talk about this in a couple of weeks. 00:37:41.780 --> 00:37:46.720 Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, 00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:49.840 according to the word of the Lord that he commanded Joshua. 00:37:50.660 --> 00:37:55.600 So Joshua burned AI and made it forever a heap of ruins as it is to this day. 00:37:56.500 --> 00:38:00.060 And he hanged the king of AI on a tree until evening. 00:38:00.760 --> 00:38:04.680 And at sunset Joshua commanded and they took his body down from the tree 00:38:04.679 --> 00:38:10.000 and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised over it a great heap of stones, 00:38:10.159 --> 00:38:12.419 which stands there to this day. 00:38:14.440 --> 00:38:16.159 Now this is a very horrific story. 00:38:16.759 --> 00:38:19.239 And I am going to talk in a couple of weeks about it. 00:38:19.279 --> 00:38:22.399 But this week I'm going to talk about something important to keep in mind 00:38:22.399 --> 00:38:24.980 for all of the other times that we listen to it. 00:38:24.980 --> 00:38:29.500 And that is this. 00:38:30.219 --> 00:38:35.900 The response of AI in Bethel is not the most reasonable response. 00:38:40.619 --> 00:38:52.260 The context is that God has done a gobsmacking, bang your head, shocking two miracles that these people know about. 00:38:52.760 --> 00:38:54.400 He stopped the River Jordan. 00:38:55.079 --> 00:38:57.579 Stopped it in such a way that was obviously miraculous. 00:38:57.780 --> 00:38:58.460 Dried the ground. 00:38:58.579 --> 00:38:59.920 The people of Israel come in. 00:39:00.280 --> 00:39:04.820 Just by his mere will, the Lord has destroyed the mighty fortress of Jericho, 00:39:04.920 --> 00:39:07.139 all of the walls, just by his mere will. 00:39:07.559 --> 00:39:10.340 And this is completely and utterly, as we're going to see in a moment, 00:39:10.340 --> 00:39:13.500 widely known throughout the Canaanite people, city-states. 00:39:14.240 --> 00:39:17.300 And why is it that their response to this, 00:39:18.000 --> 00:39:20.160 why isn't their response to this to say, 00:39:20.660 --> 00:39:21.260 you know what? 00:39:21.920 --> 00:39:23.280 Here I've been sacrificing. 00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:26.940 You know, God has given me seven kids, 00:39:27.100 --> 00:39:28.980 and three of them I've given to the God, 00:39:29.080 --> 00:39:31.100 that pile of stones, to be killed. 00:39:33.460 --> 00:39:36.519 And that God can't stop the river. 00:39:37.019 --> 00:39:39.600 That God can't knock down the walls. 00:39:39.599 --> 00:39:44.420 Like, maybe that God that I'm sacrificing my children to, 00:39:44.500 --> 00:39:48.279 and I gave my daughter so she could be a prostitute in the temple, 00:39:48.279 --> 00:39:51.400 so that strange men could have sex. 00:39:51.539 --> 00:39:54.759 Like, I shouldn't be doing that, 00:39:54.839 --> 00:39:58.400 because this idol can't do that. 00:39:58.400 --> 00:40:03.260 I should find out more about that Lord. 00:40:03.260 --> 00:40:06.740 I should find out if that Lord would have me. 00:40:08.080 --> 00:40:10.240 I should find out what his ways are. 00:40:11.080 --> 00:40:13.440 But the response is to fight. 00:40:13.440 --> 00:40:19.340 And even in the story of AI defeating the Jewish people at the first thing, 00:40:19.760 --> 00:40:22.179 even then it should be, you know, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. 00:40:22.500 --> 00:40:23.159 Do you know what? 00:40:23.720 --> 00:40:25.579 There's something else going on here. 00:40:26.119 --> 00:40:28.159 And I don't know why the Lord did this, 00:40:28.260 --> 00:40:31.179 but everybody just remember what he did to the Jordan River. 00:40:31.280 --> 00:40:32.500 Remember what he did to Jericho. 00:40:32.500 --> 00:40:37.340 So maybe he is giving us an extra day or two or week 00:40:37.340 --> 00:40:41.139 to think about what we've done and to turn to him. 00:40:43.940 --> 00:40:45.460 You know, it's, it's, it's, 00:40:45.780 --> 00:40:48.019 why is it that we fight against the Lord? 00:40:48.159 --> 00:40:48.880 Like, why is it? 00:40:48.940 --> 00:40:51.780 Why is it that when I've gone through evidence, 00:40:52.059 --> 00:40:54.440 why there's actually really good historical evidence 00:40:54.440 --> 00:40:55.800 for the resurrection of Jesus, 00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:58.579 why is it that people respond by mocking me? 00:40:58.960 --> 00:41:01.079 Why is it that they'll send me an email saying, 00:41:01.079 --> 00:41:03.779 you just worship sky daddy, sky daddy, sky daddy. 00:41:03.840 --> 00:41:05.019 Like, why do they do that? 00:41:06.840 --> 00:41:07.559 Like, why? 00:41:09.559 --> 00:41:11.119 Like, why? 00:41:12.739 --> 00:41:16.039 That's not the necessary obvious response. 00:41:17.599 --> 00:41:20.139 Because you see, the fact of the matter is 00:41:20.139 --> 00:41:28.380 that people do respond with repentance and faith. 00:41:28.460 --> 00:41:30.579 The message of the Bible is that God takes no delight 00:41:30.579 --> 00:41:31.380 in the death of a sinner, 00:41:31.460 --> 00:41:33.840 but rather that he would turn from his wickedness and live. 00:41:34.719 --> 00:41:36.139 And just, we're going to jump ahead. 00:41:36.199 --> 00:41:37.900 What happens immediately after this is a, 00:41:38.139 --> 00:41:41.119 is a time when the ark representing the presence of God himself 00:41:41.119 --> 00:41:43.500 comes into a particular place 00:41:43.500 --> 00:41:45.819 and the people of Israel are divided in two groups 00:41:45.819 --> 00:41:46.719 with that at the front. 00:41:46.819 --> 00:41:48.299 And they're all listening to the law, 00:41:48.440 --> 00:41:50.799 all of the Bible being read and proclaimed. 00:41:50.799 --> 00:41:52.159 And it's written on stone, 00:41:52.239 --> 00:41:52.940 the summary of it, 00:41:52.980 --> 00:41:54.340 which we now call the 10 commandments. 00:41:55.119 --> 00:41:56.299 But, and it's, it's all, 00:41:56.360 --> 00:41:58.179 it's what's called a covenant renewal ceremony. 00:41:58.179 --> 00:41:59.879 And look at verse 33. 00:42:01.059 --> 00:42:02.980 And in verse 33, it says, 00:42:02.980 --> 00:42:06.740 and all Israel, sojourner, all Israel. 00:42:06.940 --> 00:42:07.820 Who is Israel? 00:42:09.119 --> 00:42:11.460 Sojourner as well as native born. 00:42:12.500 --> 00:42:15.039 With their elders and officers and their judges 00:42:15.039 --> 00:42:16.740 stood on opposite sides of the ark 00:42:16.740 --> 00:42:18.039 before the Levitical priests 00:42:18.039 --> 00:42:20.300 who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 00:42:20.539 --> 00:42:21.539 Half of them in front of, 00:42:21.760 --> 00:42:22.619 ta-da-da-da-da-da-da. 00:42:22.820 --> 00:42:24.460 To bless the people of Israel. 00:42:24.659 --> 00:42:25.260 All Israel. 00:42:25.400 --> 00:42:26.119 And who's being blessed? 00:42:26.619 --> 00:42:27.019 Sojourners. 00:42:27.360 --> 00:42:29.699 People who are not Jewish. 00:42:29.699 --> 00:42:31.719 And look at the very end of the chapter. 00:42:32.500 --> 00:42:34.059 And, and, and verse 35. 00:42:34.279 --> 00:42:36.539 And there was not a word of all that Moses commanded 00:42:36.539 --> 00:42:37.919 that Joshua did not read 00:42:37.919 --> 00:42:39.779 before all of the assembly of Israel. 00:42:40.039 --> 00:42:41.819 All the women, all the little ones, 00:42:41.919 --> 00:42:43.779 and the sojourners who lived among them. 00:42:44.239 --> 00:42:46.899 I said in chapter two of the book of Judges, 00:42:46.980 --> 00:42:49.239 it's key to reading the whole book of Judges, 00:42:49.399 --> 00:42:51.779 is Rahab's response to the miracles. 00:42:52.539 --> 00:42:54.119 And her response to the miracles 00:42:54.119 --> 00:42:56.379 is even though she's a pagan, 00:42:56.899 --> 00:42:59.199 she says, the Lord must be God. 00:42:59.199 --> 00:43:01.259 I want to belong to him. 00:43:01.679 --> 00:43:03.500 May he, will he have mercy on me? 00:43:03.779 --> 00:43:06.500 And that is what carries all the way through. 00:43:06.599 --> 00:43:10.179 And now we see that many Canaanites 00:43:10.179 --> 00:43:11.779 have become Jewish. 00:43:13.699 --> 00:43:16.539 The response of AI to fight 00:43:16.539 --> 00:43:18.579 is not the only response. 00:43:18.579 --> 00:43:21.399 And it's not the response that the Lord wants. 00:43:22.399 --> 00:43:25.059 The Lord takes no delight in the death of a sinner, 00:43:25.179 --> 00:43:28.139 but that he or she will turn from their wickedness 00:43:28.139 --> 00:43:29.480 and live. 00:43:31.119 --> 00:43:32.719 Canaanites are joining. 00:43:34.179 --> 00:43:35.319 They are joining. 00:43:35.599 --> 00:43:36.679 You see, here's the thing. 00:43:37.359 --> 00:43:40.379 We belong to the Lord by nature. 00:43:40.940 --> 00:43:44.239 And we reject belonging to him 00:43:44.239 --> 00:43:46.480 in our rebellion and in our sin. 00:43:46.480 --> 00:43:51.420 But the Lord's desire is that we will once again belong to him. 00:43:51.539 --> 00:43:54.960 And that only comes through something which is hinted at 00:43:54.960 --> 00:43:57.719 at the end of the story of the destruction of AI, 00:43:58.340 --> 00:44:02.440 which is how we, by grace, can belong to the Lord 00:44:02.440 --> 00:44:05.280 so that we not only belong to the Lord by nature, 00:44:05.780 --> 00:44:07.380 but also by grace. 00:44:07.380 --> 00:44:10.300 Because in chapter, in verse 29, 00:44:11.180 --> 00:44:16.940 we see that the king of AI died on a pole 00:44:16.940 --> 00:44:20.400 and is buried under stones outside the city gate. 00:44:20.519 --> 00:44:22.880 And every Christian who reads this 00:44:22.880 --> 00:44:26.260 has to remember that this is part of a bigger story. 00:44:27.519 --> 00:44:31.140 And we also understand there was a king 00:44:31.140 --> 00:44:34.460 who died on a tree outside the city 00:44:34.460 --> 00:44:36.659 and was buried under stone. 00:44:38.159 --> 00:44:40.139 One king thought he was a god. 00:44:41.360 --> 00:44:46.460 But the true king knew that he was, in fact, the Lord. 00:44:47.019 --> 00:44:50.440 The same Lord who had stopped the Jordan 00:44:50.440 --> 00:44:54.820 and toppled Jericho and won the battle. 00:44:55.480 --> 00:44:56.300 He was the Lord. 00:44:56.559 --> 00:44:58.780 One king, AI, thought he was a god. 00:44:59.420 --> 00:45:01.780 There is, in fact, a true god who was a king. 00:45:02.460 --> 00:45:04.820 One king sent people out to die. 00:45:04.920 --> 00:45:06.120 That's why he's still alive. 00:45:06.240 --> 00:45:07.720 One people sent people out to die. 00:45:07.820 --> 00:45:12.060 The true king came to die so that people will live. 00:45:12.700 --> 00:45:14.780 One king lived a horrible life. 00:45:15.880 --> 00:45:18.280 The true king lived a life that was good 00:45:18.280 --> 00:45:19.880 and beautiful and true. 00:45:20.480 --> 00:45:22.700 One king led his people to death. 00:45:22.880 --> 00:45:26.840 The true king delivers his people from death 00:45:26.840 --> 00:45:28.100 into eternal life. 00:45:28.660 --> 00:45:30.680 One king dies in defeat. 00:45:30.679 --> 00:45:34.759 One king dies, the true king dies, saying, 00:45:35.259 --> 00:45:36.819 It is accomplished. 00:45:37.839 --> 00:45:39.460 The end has been reached. 00:45:40.319 --> 00:45:42.759 My purpose for coming, which is to die 00:45:42.759 --> 00:45:44.639 as a sacrifice of sins for many, 00:45:44.699 --> 00:45:45.659 has been accomplished. 00:45:47.219 --> 00:45:49.460 One king dies against his will. 00:45:50.519 --> 00:45:52.899 One king dies because it is his love 00:45:52.899 --> 00:45:54.239 that keeps him to the cross. 00:45:55.199 --> 00:45:57.460 One king dies for his rebellion 00:45:57.460 --> 00:46:01.240 and his sin, and the true king dies, 00:46:01.380 --> 00:46:03.320 bearing the sin of you and me. 00:46:03.820 --> 00:46:08.000 One king died justly for his evil. 00:46:08.880 --> 00:46:12.880 One died sinless, but he died in mercy, 00:46:13.579 --> 00:46:16.440 bearing the justice, the death that you and I deserve. 00:46:16.440 --> 00:46:22.460 One king died on our behalf, 00:46:22.880 --> 00:46:24.880 ultimately for mercy and grace, 00:46:24.880 --> 00:46:27.820 so that we might receive an unmerited gift. 00:46:27.820 --> 00:46:36.000 God takes no delight in the death of a sinner, 00:46:36.140 --> 00:46:38.160 but that he would turn from his wickedness and live. 00:46:39.320 --> 00:46:40.280 So, brothers and sisters, 00:46:41.380 --> 00:46:43.200 I mean, if you haven't given your life to Christ, 00:46:44.300 --> 00:46:46.460 God, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, 00:46:46.460 --> 00:46:47.860 there's no better time than right now 00:46:47.860 --> 00:46:49.059 to call out to him and say, 00:46:49.160 --> 00:46:50.360 Lord, have mercy upon me. 00:46:50.400 --> 00:46:51.300 I want to be yours, 00:46:51.440 --> 00:46:52.940 and he will not cast you away. 00:46:52.940 --> 00:46:57.019 And this text shows us that 00:46:57.019 --> 00:46:58.300 one of the things in the covenant 00:46:58.300 --> 00:47:00.500 is that the Lord wants all of his people 00:47:00.500 --> 00:47:03.039 to read all of his word for all of their life, 00:47:03.280 --> 00:47:05.019 and that's what he wants us to do, 00:47:05.099 --> 00:47:07.360 and he wants us to pray big prayers. 00:47:08.059 --> 00:47:10.400 He wants us to pray for the salvation of others. 00:47:10.539 --> 00:47:12.679 He wants us to pray about the war in Ukraine. 00:47:13.220 --> 00:47:16.579 He wants us to pray for peace in the Middle East. 00:47:16.679 --> 00:47:18.760 He wants us to pray for the end of abortion. 00:47:19.179 --> 00:47:21.360 He wants you to pray for parking spots. 00:47:22.940 --> 00:47:24.019 He wants you to pray. 00:47:25.059 --> 00:47:26.019 Invite you to stand. 00:47:38.460 --> 00:47:40.360 Father, we give you thanks and praise 00:47:40.360 --> 00:47:42.519 that out of love for us, 00:47:43.700 --> 00:47:45.860 God, the Son of God, 00:47:46.179 --> 00:47:48.619 set aside his appearance as God, 00:47:48.720 --> 00:47:49.659 but remaining God, 00:47:49.780 --> 00:47:51.579 took into himself our human nature, 00:47:51.579 --> 00:47:54.559 and came amongst us, 00:47:54.860 --> 00:47:56.360 born of the Virgin Mary, 00:47:56.900 --> 00:47:59.779 living the life that we should live but couldn't, 00:47:59.920 --> 00:48:01.920 and dying the death that we should, 00:48:02.099 --> 00:48:03.400 but he died in our place. 00:48:03.480 --> 00:48:05.480 We thank you that he died in our place. 00:48:05.699 --> 00:48:07.900 We thank you that he rose from the dead. 00:48:08.019 --> 00:48:11.860 We thank you that his resurrection from the dead 00:48:11.860 --> 00:48:12.659 changes everything. 00:48:12.819 --> 00:48:14.880 We thank you that he will come again in glory. 00:48:15.059 --> 00:48:15.880 We thank you, Father, 00:48:15.960 --> 00:48:17.840 that you are sovereign over all things, 00:48:17.840 --> 00:48:19.220 and we ask, Father, 00:48:19.220 --> 00:48:23.820 that your Holy Spirit would bring the gospel and your word deeply into our hearts. 00:48:23.980 --> 00:48:27.360 It is your word and the gospel that might form us. 00:48:27.940 --> 00:48:30.079 And, Father, we ask that you would help us to listen, 00:48:30.220 --> 00:48:32.460 not to the stories that we tell ourselves, 00:48:32.460 --> 00:48:37.320 that we're ugly or that we're losers or that any of those things, 00:48:37.320 --> 00:48:41.480 but, Father, to listen to the stories that you speak to us through your word 00:48:41.480 --> 00:48:44.440 and the power of your Holy Spirit that you want to have form us, 00:48:44.539 --> 00:48:47.179 of the true king who loved us so much 00:48:47.179 --> 00:48:50.139 and loved each one of us so much that he died for us. 00:48:50.219 --> 00:48:53.800 Father, may that be the story that is whispered into our ears 00:48:53.800 --> 00:48:54.980 and forms our lives. 00:48:55.079 --> 00:48:58.880 And as that story is whispered into our lives and forms us, Father, 00:48:59.000 --> 00:49:00.920 may you help us to be people of prayer, 00:49:01.380 --> 00:49:04.059 praying big prayers and small prayers, 00:49:04.480 --> 00:49:06.400 teeny, teensy, weensy prayers, 00:49:06.480 --> 00:49:07.719 and everything in between. 00:49:07.719 --> 00:49:11.719 And we ask all these things in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior, 00:49:12.219 --> 00:49:14.379 and all God's people said, Amen.